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Since 2009, when Hypo Alpe Adria was 'nationalized', the Austrian government has dumped more than EUR2 billion into the troubled bank. It remains on life-support but this time the government-proposed 'aid' being offered is running into a wall.

By Angelika Gruber and Georgina ProdhanVIENNA (Reuters) - Carlos Slim's America Movil and the Austrian government are moving towards a deal to pool their stakes in Telekom Austria, which would lead to a takeover offer and mark a further step in the Mexican tycoon's expansion in Europe.

Bank Deposits No Longer Guaranteed By Austrian Government - Austria will remove state guarantee of bank deposits- Austrian deposit plan given go ahead by the EU- Banks to pay into a deposit insurance fund over 10 years- Fund will then be valued at a grossly inadequate €1.5 billion- New bail-in legislation agreed by EU two years ago- Depositors need to realise increasing risks and act accordingly- “Bail-ins are now the rule” and ‘Bail-in regime’ coming

While, for now, depositors at Austria's Hypo-Alde-Adria-Bank (nationalized in 2009) have not had assets confiscated, Austrian authorities are shifting in an unusual (scary precedent-setting) direction. Amid the resignation of the bank's CEO, the government is taking aim at 'speculators' who dared to buy the bank's bonds below par - and made money therefore on the back of the taxpayer.

Just over a year ago, a black swan landed in the middle of Europe, when in what was then dubbed a "Spectacular Development" In Austria, the "bad bank" of failed Hypo Alpe Adria - the Heta Asset Resolution AG - itself went from good to bad, with its creditors forced into an involuntary "bail-in" following the "discovery" of a $8.5 billion capital hole in its balance sheet primarily related to ongoing deterioration in central and eastern European economies